Luke Donald of England is among the top players in the world, and one of the guys who has a chance to take over No.1 in the world golf rankings.

Tiger Woods topped the world golf rankings for the first time on June 15, 1997, needing just 42 weeks to become the fastest to ascend to the top in the history of the rankings, and was the best player on the planet for 623 weeks — the last 281 of those consecutively.

But after his equally rapid fall starting in November 2009, he has entirely lost his grip on the top spot. Now, and likely for some time, one must span the four corners of the world to find the No. 1 player. The sport is buzzing with 19th-hole debates about who's No. 1, and the top of the rankings are humming heading into Thursday's start of The Players Championship, the PGA Tour's signature event.

England's Lee Westwood (not in the field), despite not having won a major, is the current No. 1, first taking the top spot from Woods in November. He lost the No. 1 ranking to Germany's Martin Kaymer for eight weeks before regaining the top spot last month. England's Luke Donald, who could have become No. 1 with a win in The Heritage, is No. 3.

Phil Mickelson, at No. 4, is the only non-European in the top seven. Woods, who has lost more world rankings points (143.42) than anyone this season, has fallen to No. 8. In all, 32 of the top 50 hail from overseas.

The musical chairs involving players from all parts of the world has begun, with as many as a dozen players having legitimate shots of becoming No. 1 this season. This week Kaymer, Donald or Mickelson can become No. 1.

"For so long no one really paid attention or wondered who was No. 1 because of Tiger," Kaymer says. "Now every week you have three, four, five guys up there who can become No. 1. Anything can happen week to week, and I think that is a great thing what we have in golf at the moment.

"It creates attention all over the world."

Players goes international

The Players Championship is another indicator that the game is going global. Six of the past 10 winners have been international players, including the last three — Spain's Sergio Garcia in 2008, Sweden's Henrik Stenson in 2009 and South Africa's Tim Clark last year.

The tournament will hoist the flags of 19 countries in addition to the USA's red, white and blue, with 51 players born outside of the USA in the field. In 1982, the first year The Players came to the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, there were only eight flags representing 14 players from outside the USA flying atop the flag poles.

Lured by the Tour's prize money and immaculate practice facilities and golf courses, a growing number of international players started arriving on U.S. shores. The addition of world ranking points in 1986 increased access to the game's biggest tournaments. And the addition of the World Golf Championship events continued the growth here and abroad. When Tim Finchem became commissioner in 1994, 18 international players were exempt on the Tour. This year, 75 players from overseas are exempt — about 40% of the Tour.

"The rest of the world of golfers has grown up," says Chubby Chandler, who represents Westwood, recently christened Hall of Famer Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy, Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen. "There needed to be life after Tiger — and I'm not saying that Tiger's finished. But there needs to be a continuation of what goes on in golf. And if that's a different continuation, then good.

"What's happened is that you now have the best young kids from all over the world coming to play here. It's not a European or anything domination. There's a lot being made of this, but one of the reasons that the rest of the world is becoming better is because of the opportunities that the PGA Tour is giving them."

Chandler was speaking Sunday morning of the Masters, a few hours before McIlroy imploded on the back nine and Schwartzel became the first to close a major championship victory with four birdies. In the process, Schwartzel became the fourth consecutive international player to win a major championship, following Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland (U.S. Open), Oosthuizen of South Africa (British Open) and Kaymer (PGA Championship). For the first time since 1994, no American is holding any current major championship hardware. And since 2006, every golfing continent has won at least one major championship.

All told, there no longer are borders in professional golf.

"America is a big place, but the world is bigger," Schwartzel said after donning the green jacket. "We are the majority. There's a lot of guys out there these days that can play good golf."

Youth serves up wins

And a lot of them are young. Schwartzel and Kaymer are 26. Australia's Jason Day, who threatened at Augusta, is 23. Northern Ireland's McIlroy (not in the field this week), who has been in contention on Sunday in three of the last four majors, is 22. Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, who already has 10 professional wins, is 19. Italy's Matteo Manassero, who became the youngest to ever win on the European Tour with his victory in the 2010 Castello Masters, is 18.

"Everyone's just getting better and better from a younger age, and it's happening around the world," says Australia Adam Scott, a former young gun who is now 30. "There's so much more being put into the sport of golf from all aspects that you need. Physical, mental, training. Everyone is understanding how to prepare better and everyone is really hungry and passionate for golf."

That includes the American players. Fourteen of the 20 Tour events this season have been won by Americans. And Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, Dustin Johnson and Hunter Mahan are on the young side of 30, and Nick Watney (30), Matt Kuchar (32) and Bubba Watson (32) aren't ancient. And neither are Mickelson (40) and Woods (35).

"Obviously there's a lot of guys playing well right now, and it's kind of tough to take hold of that top spot and hold it right now," Fowler says. "Tiger is struggling, but I don't have any doubt that he's going to get his confidence back and start playing well again. You see a lot of guys playing well right now, and it's tough to get out there and dominate."

Or as McIlroy says: "American golf is still very strong. The PGA Tour is still the toughest tour to win on, no doubt."

Mickelson confident

Mickelson isn't raising the white flag amidst the onslaught of younger players and international players.

"I see some things in my game that are starting to get better and better," says Mickelson, who wants dearly to add to his 39 Tour wins and four majors. "I've been able to, for the last year, year and a half now, putt with direction. I really know what it is I'm trying to do on the greens now. I'm rolling the ball better than I ever have in years.

"My short game has been sharp. My driving has been much better. I see my game getting better than it has been, and I welcome the challenge and think that there's a lot of opportunity for me to still have a lot of success."

Donald's game has never been better, either. The winner this year of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship says he will be battling stars from all over the world for the rest of his career.

"It used to be USA leading the way. But more and more people have gotten involved in the game and it has become more of a global sport," Donald says. "(Ireland's Padraig) Harrington spurred on the Europeans when he won his three majors. And I'm sure there is a similar example for other people, whether it's Adam Scott winning a tournament and inspiring people in Australia, or Angel Cabrera winning the Masters and inspiring people in Argentina, or Martin Kaymer winning the PGA and inspiring people in Germany. It only takes one person to get people teed up and motivated."

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